Covered in Gliter

Just a typical Saturday I suppose, being all covered in glitter and rushing over to my next appointment. Yes, I understand that sentence is a bit misleading to those of you with filthy little minds (oh how the filthy little minds of the world keep me entertained!). What I was really getting at is that my weekends have a tendency to be all or nothing. Weekend Scenario One: me at home throwing a little pink hippo across the room a zillion times until Bean decides she'd rather squeak the hell out of monkey-bear or whine because I refuse to dislodge her mini soccer ball from beneath the lid of a kimchi pot. Weekend Scenario Two: race around town to events that I want to attend but are also sort of work related and then hurry over to a friend's house for the last few minutes of a celebration.

Last weekend I volunteered at the Caribbean Festival. The local leaders of the cultural groups in town have found out that I have a really heard time turning people down when I know how much help they need. Every organization in town it seems knows that they can ask me to stage manage, edit press releases, track down missing contest judges, set up tables, take photos, design posters, or to do one of a million other things that others have said they will do but at the last minute never got around to doing. I can't say no. I want them to have successful events, I want people in town to see that we really have a diverse population from all over the world here. Oh and I am on a personal mission to never hear the people I associate with say, "There is nothing to do in this town." Even if you've exhausted the bar and club scene, seen all the museums, attended all the plays and concerts, there is still... well that is a separate blog/rant.

Anyhow last weekend I drove around Elizabeth looking for a place to park, rushed to Independence Park to find the volunteer gazebo, then got my assignment. I was to be working the kids craft table. Oh let the fun begin! I am not being sarcastic. I love kids. I love crafts. Above all else, the craft table was in the shade! Score!

So after shooing multiple adults away and pointing out that the picnic tables in this area were reserved for children and setting up the tables with art supplies I was ready to spend a couple of hours watching budding artists express themselves by coloring Flags from Caribbean Nations and making masks to celebrate this little mid-summer carnival. I was really happy not to be in charge of the bounce house or the games. Even when the tables got crowded and I was rushing form one to another to make sure everything was running smoothly. What made me most happy was to see that some parents still care how their kids are being raised. In fact a large chunk of my faith in parenting was restored. I've often seeing children running a muck in stores screaming, throwing tantrums and parents not giving a hoot about their child's ill behavior. But last weekend, I saw some of the most well behaved children. Kids where waiting their turn, asking if they could please have the blue glitter pin and would sweetly ask if they could have the other blue glitter pen too. The called me Miss or Ma'am and would say excuse me when trying to get my attention from another child. It was marvelous. They were genuinely interested in what was going on asking questions, wanting to know how to make the glitter in the shaker stick to the mask, can they have feathers for their mask, is it okay to leave it at the table until it dries? It was wonderful to hear all those please and thank yous.

Each little kid had their own way of doing thing. some wanted to do everything on their own and would have a scattering of media all over their project, glitter, marker, feathers, one child even glued a small prize from the game section to her creation. Others want their mothers to help and then some wanted me to help, but would get made if mom or an older sibling meddled with their art. Pink, Purple and blue feathers were the most requested, though just about every child tried to put the giant red feathers on the mask first, but when they wouldn't stay the smaller ones would only do if they were pink, purple or blue. One little girl who had to be about 6, wanted pink, purple and orange to match her dress. She was very precise on her design it had to have swirls like the print in her outfit. As demanding as she was, each request was started with a may I and followed with a sincere thanks once she had perfectly coordinated her mask to her attire.

The little boys were hilarious. We had three brothers sit down to color at once. By this time we had sacrificed a prize to become part of the craft table, a roll of pictures to tear apart and color. All three of them wanted an under the sea scene to color, but I could only find one after unrolling about 8 frames of pictures. So I was able to talk the youngest into a picture with a rhino. Then the oldest say it and wanted that one too. I didn't recall any other rhino's but we decided that the one of a zoo with lots of different animals would be just fine. About 5 minutes later the middle boy came over with a half colored-in-the-lines crab and a whale scribbled through with purple on his underwater scene, "My brother ruined it, is there a giraffe I can have instead?" five more frames and we found one. Some of the really little boys really made my day. They wanted to make masks and butterflies and use the sparkles and feathers. Oh! They were just soooo happy to be making something pretty. One little guy just squeezed all the glitter out of two pens and then dumped an entire shaker of glitter on top of that in the center of his mask. Once he was done he thought it was so cool that he needed to make one for his dad too. But this one needed feathers and massive amounts of glitter, because that way it will look like a super hero's mask.

I started the craft table about about noon. A little after two I exclaimed at this one little girl who was glittering and gluing sequence with the utmost care "Goodness you are just covered in glitter!" She replied with the sweetest little giggle, "Just like you!" I didn't think I could be as sparkly as she was, I mean I was mainly just passing glitter to the kids and maybe drawing hearts, flowers, stars, fish, or whatever was requested (one girl asked me to draw her a rose. Now I do paint and sketch and have even sculpted before, but glitter pens don't really offer the same control as most mediums... I had to ask her if she would be okay with a tulip. Once I told here that a tulip is a really pretty flower from Holland and that they can be red, pink, yellow, well just about any color, she decided a tulip would be okay if I drew it's leaves too). I had done my best to steer clear of the loose glitter, so I figured I should come out of this maybe not glitter free, but with limited added sparkle. I didn't really think much of it other than to exclaim that I was glad we were not finger painting then!

Around 4:15 I was done with my craft table duties so I decided to wander around the festival(me wander? I know that never happens now does it dear reader?). I was ravenous since I hadn't eaten since around 10am so I found the shortest line and ordered some curried goat. I had never had curried goat before, well at least not that I know of. I was alright, tasty, but a little fattier than I like. I also walked about to get a few photos for our office newsletter, since we try to cover as many festivals as we can each quarter. I wish the international events could get more coverage, but the news crews just don't care until people get sick, faint from the heat or some other calamity otherwise befalls the event (we won't pull out my news soap box here). It really was a beautiful day with so many different people out representing all walks of life with our gorgeous skyline as the back drop.

When I finally got back to my car several blocks away I had just enough time to drive home, walk Bean, and then head back into town for a friend's birthday party. When I got home I tried to shake as much glitter out of my clothes and hair and wiped down with a washcloth. I just didn't have time to take a full shower. When I arrived at my friend's Birthday party I was still coated in glitter. So much show that at one point one person greeted another friend by saying "I see that you've already said hi to Alexis," while noting the glitter that had rubbed off on him. I wash just so happy that this party was mellow. I was pooped. I was still starving. All I wanted was cake and a martini (made with proper gin not a stupid vodkatini people!). I wasn't supposed to have either since I am watching what I eat, but I had a half of someone else's cake. Oh how divine chocolate cake is when you are not supposed to eat cake! I actually don't like chocolate cake. I like red velvet best, which is technically a kind of chocolate cake... but better. Great now I want cake... Anyhow. It was a great party. We mingled and ate and talked and looked at catalogues. The birthday boy opened gifts and cards and then a bunch of us ended up on the front porch. A few choice remarks elicited some pretty biting comments about what I *really* meant by my thinly veiled snide interjection about what two people left drinking in the kitchen were up to. Oh it is great when friends can feed off what the others are saying! All in all it was a good Saturday.

Yet I still like it when I can spend a whole day watching Bean freak out about a squirrel on our back deck. That also beats three showers of scrubbing glitter out of my hair and off of my skin.